Jury Summons - King County Superior Court RJC

maclean said:

It doesn't specify.

The Superior Court Presiding judge made the rule, and so we follow it.

If we are on business, the gun stays on us - in or out of uniform.

If we are there for jury duty or as a non-LEO party to a case, it gets locked up.

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Aaron1124 said:

Just out of curiosity, but does the actual judge make the rule? Or does the city/county council have a specific ordinance on it?

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krazichinaman said:

Thank You everyone for the information. People aren't lying when they say bring LOTS of reading material. For future reference, there are several electrical outlets that you can plug cell chargers and laptops into. Moreover, they also provide free Wifi (I was testing speeds around 7-8 mbit download and about 2 mbit up on my cell).

When I got to Kent RJC, I informed the lady at the front of the check point that I had a firearm that I needed to lock up. She proceeded to ask a deputy to come over and escort me to the room. The room has a lock box (from what I remember about 6 units X 5 units) in a locked room. The Deputy asked to see my license so he could copy the information down onto his paperwork. He then told me to put my firearm (XD service .45 ACP) into the box and to NOT unload the weapon. I then proceeded to put in my serpa holster into the box (Must have been at least a foot deep). He left the key and paper work at the front desk inside the checkpoint.

When I left for the day, I informed the deputies that I needed to pick up my checked firearm in box 1. They gave me a surprised look and a deputy escorted me to the room. As we were walking to the room, I asked the deputy if I needed to show ID and he said no. When we got to the room, he asked me how to spell my last name and opened the box for me. He told me to put my holster back on and to re-holster my firearm. I had to re-sign the paper work saying I received my property back.

Throughout the whole check in/out process they were very professional and did not touch my firearm (minus the surprised look, guessing they didn't believe I was of age to have a firearm). I am a bit concerned that they did not check any ID upon getting my firearm back but asking how to spell my last name might be "their check." Glad to see Kent RJC is following the rules!

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maclean said:

When the rule was made, it was by determination of the presiding judge in King County. I know this personally because a relative was involved in the process.

Some judges (erroneously in my personal opinion) have held that the following part of the RCW grants them wider latitude than the RCW specifies:

"The local judicial authority shall designate and clearly mark those areas where weapons are prohibited, and shall post notices at each entrance to the building of the prohibition against weapons in the restricted areas;"

In any event, LEO's who want to stay employed obey the rule.

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Aaron1124 said:

Can a judge, however, make a rule not allowing a private citizen to carry O.C. spray in the court room? I ask, because O.C. Spray is preempted on a state level.

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Hammer said:

I will say I went in the Skagit County Superior courthouse the other day on other business. Since I did not see lockboxes, I asked the security person.
Their reply was that they did not have lockboxes, had no place to put said boxes, and no plans to put any in.
All of which is outside the law as I read it. But such is county gov't.

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heresolong said:

I notice that this post just skidded right on by with no comment by anyone. This is illegal unless they have a person designated to receive firearms. It is written right into the law. Did they offer to check the firearm for you? If not they were in violation of state law.

This needs to be brought to the attention of those in charge of the courthouse. Since you were the one affected, would you be willing to approach them to get this resolved? We had the same situation in Blaine when I first moved here. The person designated was the police department in a different building. Late at night after a city council meeting I was unable to retrieve my firearm and had to go back the next day to get it. I argued with the City Manager for quite a while but he eventually conceded that the law was on my side and designated someone to check firearms.

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maclean said:

By now I had assumed someone would have developed a form letter.

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Tomas said:

That would be the obvious thing to do, really. Someone probably already HAS a good start on that on their computer right now.

A "template" letter with all the appropriate information and references with just the need to insert the proper names, locations and dates would make it a lot easier for any of us to properly notify the city / county / court of the problem and expected resolution.

Personally I haven't fussed with that since I got Lakewood to arrange for checking in firearms at their new municipal courts back in February of 2002 by contacting their Assistant City Attorney and referring her to the RCW. They complied in under 30 days.

It should be a fairly simple problem to get straightened out.

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